


In These Hard Times

by theGirlwithtoomanyOTPs



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, Nightmares, Not really fluffy but still ends okay, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-12 23:34:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5685904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theGirlwithtoomanyOTPs/pseuds/theGirlwithtoomanyOTPs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>She learns to find peace and tranquility and to know that the pain in her heart means she is alive for another day, for another fight, for another worthy cause. She is always needed. No matter what anybody says, someone out there will always need for her.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	In These Hard Times

There are still nights where Korra wakes up in cold sweat; nightmares that never leave her alone.

 

There are still nights when Korra tosses and turns in her sleep; nightmares that never give her peace.

 

There are still nights when she starts, gasping quick short breaths for air that seems to run away out of her reach; the nightmares that will never be held at bay.

 

There are nights where she drowns in her quiet sobs, echoes of her sorrow and terror only heard by her; these nightmares never end.

 

There are nights when her heart seems keen on bursting out of her chest, but it doesn't, keeping fear and adrenaline coursing through her body that she shakes until the early hours of dawn; the nightmares haunt her very waking moments.

 

There are nights when she feels so alone, hugging and rocking herself, convincing herself she is still whole and alive and in one piece; the nightmares bare her very soul to her just to mock her. She is weak, vulnerable, and a failure. The world doesn't need the Avatar. The world simply _doesn't_ need her.

 

Korra tries to get up every morning, nonetheless. Her proud spirit, sense of responsibility and duty, does not let her stay underneath the sheets like the whimpering little girl in the depths of her heart. She knows she is broken and beaten. But she must get back up. Keeping and upholding the balance is all she's ever known and she has long accepted that her existence, her duty, comes first to the world and to herself last. And so she tries.

 

The Avatar's shaking hands are curled into fists. Her wavering blue eyes stay trained to the earth. Her quivering voice, she pinches so nobody knows. She must stay strong. Her duty is to the world, after all. If the Avatar has lost hope, then there is none at all.

 

Avatar Korra keeps her back straight and her stance steady until she is locked safe in the solace of her room. She crumples to a heap on the floor and lets herself cry. In the morning, she smiles her beautiful and cocky smile. The Avatar is a living symbol of the world's state and she must endure for her people.

 

She meditates, seeking for guidance and comfort. She knows the link between her past lives has long been severed, destroyed. But the human part in her needs connection like any other. Needs to know they are not alone. But days, weeks, months, _years_ pass. And all she hears is silence. Raava does not answer to her calls.

 

She knows the Spirit of Light feels just as lost and lonely as she does. Maybe even more so; she has spent lifetimes and more creating friendships and memories Korra can never even begin to imagine because even before Unalaq and Vaatu destroyed them, she would not have been able to speak and be with the past Avatars as Raava had done.

 

But Raava whispers to her from within, she knows by the warmth and comfort the meditation brings.

 

I'm still here with you and our fight is not over and we will make it. You will never be alone, Korra.

 

Slowly, Korra accepts.

 

Her friends are here. Her family is here. They are here and they need her as much as she needs them.

 

Slowly, she recovers.

 

She learns to find peace and tranquility and to know that the pain in her heart means she is alive for another day, for another fight, for another worthy cause. She is _always_ needed. No matter what anybody says, someone out there will always need for her.

 

Slowly, she blossoms as a weathered flower; beautiful and strong.

 

The busy days provide tiredness and soreness in her muscles and bones that remind her she fought another good fight. The quiet ones tell her that she has not truly failed; that what she did mattered and helped.

 

The nightmares never stop. They come visit every now and then. And their effect on her is just as bad as the last.

 

But she wakes up to Asami's warm, comforting hands. To her whispering soft, sweet, comforting nothings in her ears. She is enveloped in her scent, warm, sweet and smelling like love and home. She is reminded, over and over that she is loved and not alone.

 

Asami is patient and strong. Asami is understanding and loving. Asami is caring and supportive. Asami is not perfect; she has her own nightmares and aches. But furthermore, Asami knows that she is Avatar first before Korra and has made her peace with it.

 

And yet still, Asami loves her as Korra first before Avatar.

 

And for all her Avatar duties keeping her fighting, Asami Sato makes sure she is living.

 

And soon, Asami alone makes that enough to keep Korra moving, healing and saving not only the people of the world, but herself as well.

 

The nightmares will never stop. But she is now sure that she will wake up from them without having to ever be alone again.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure i got the gist of what I wanted to put out there but... well, whatever.


End file.
